Please write a 3-5-page essay covering the concepts of the midterm. Use at least half of the concepts

asked in the midterm to complete this assignment and supplicate your essay with additional concepts

discussed in class when relevant. Choose at least three of the articles below to complete this

assignment. You may also use other relevant articles as long as you cite them to strengthen your essay.

1. http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/npr/205547517/where-in-the-world-are-thereno-

mcdonald-s

2. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/11/opinion/sunday/when-leaning-in-doesnt-payoff.

html?_r=0

3. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/love-inc/2011…

4. http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/artificial-intelligence/study-shows-that-humansattribute-

morals-and-emotions-to-robots

5. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/magazine/22Adult…

6. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/opinion/sunday/living-alone-means-beingsocial.

html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

7. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/11/business/energy-…

8. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/16/the-pros-…

9. http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/the-…

10. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/16/us/middle-class-areas-shrink-as-income-gap-growsreport-

finds.html

Midterm questions and concepts are as follows:

SOC 131 Midterm

Please read and answer the following questions using short answers. Each question is worth 4 points.

1. What is “the scientific study of human activity in society or more specifically the study of the

social forces that influence or pressure people to behave, respond, or think in certain ways”?

Sociology

2. What is “the ever-increasing flow of goods, services, money, people, technology, information,

and other cultural items across national borders”? globalization

3. What is “the process by which a locality embraces, adapts to, or resists a product, an idea, a way

of behaving that has come to them in the cross-national flow”? It is also when something unique

to locality is launched on a path toward globalization. glocalization

4. What is known as “a quality of mind that allows people to see how remote and impersonal

social forces shape their life story or biography”? sociological imagination

5. What is known as “personal needs, problems, or difficulties brought on by individual

shortcomings related to motivation, attitude, ability, character, or judgment”? troubles

6. What is “a matter that can be explained only by factors outside an individual’s control and

immediate environment”? issues

7. Sociology emerged as a reaction to what? Industrial revolution

This is an ongoing and still evolving social force that transformed and is still transforming

society, human behavior, and interaction in incalculable ways.

8. Who are the founding fathers of sociology? Give at least two names. Marx, Weber, Comte,

Dubois,

9. What theory defines society as a system of interrelated, interdependent parts? Each part is

interdependent and functions to maintain a larger system. Functionalism

10. What are intended or anticipated effects that a part has on the existing social order? Manifest

functions

11. What are unintended or unanticipated effects that a part has on the existing order? Latent

functions

12. What is the theory that asks the question who benefits from a particular social arrangement,

and at whose expense? Conflict theory

13. This theory focuses on social interaction and related concepts of self-awareness/reflexive

thinking, symbols, and negotiated order. Symbolic interactionism

14. What method do sociologists adhere to? Scientific method

15. Why do researchers gather data? To test their hypothesis

16. What is a group to which a person belongs to, identifies, admires, and/or feels loyalty? In-group

17. What is the process by which people develop a sense of self and learn the ways of the society in

which they live? socialization

18. What are agents of socialization? Name at least two. Significant others, primary groups, ingroups

and out-groups, and institutions

19. What are everyday encounters in which people communicate, interpret, and respond to each

other’s words and actions? Social interaction

20. What are social statuses that are the result of chance in that people exert no effort to obtain

them? A person’s birth order, race, biological sex, and age are examples. Ascribed status

21. What are social statuses acquired through some combination of personal choice, effort, and

ability. A person’s marital status, occupation, and educational attainment are examples.

Achieved status

22. What is the model in which social interaction can be viewed as if it were a theater, people as if

they were actors, and roles as if they were performances before an audience? Dramaturgical

model

23. What is an organizational structure put in place to achieve some valued goal by using the most

efficient means to coordinate human activity? Bureaucracy

24. What is the process in which thought and action rooted in custom, emotion, or respect for

mysterious forces is replaced by instrumental-rational thought and action? Rationalization

25. What is “the process by which the principles of the fast food restaurant are coming to dominate

more and more sectors of American society as well as the rest of the world” (Ritzer 1993. p. 1)?

McDonaldization of society